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Less-Developed Countries

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More than three-fourths of the world's population live in so-called developing countries: nations that may not have a stable economy, energy supply, or advanced technology, and whose population may lack access to jobs, food, water, education, health care, and housing. RAND takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the problems of international development and recommends policy solutions for global, national, and local economies.

Launched in December 2013 with a generous grant from Frederick S. Pardee, the Pardee Initiative for Global Human Progress is a new approach to chronic problems faced by the developing world, most notably food insecurity and challenges of urbanization.

Understanding the factors influencing economic growth and development is crucial to enhancing the human welfare of a nation. Research and Policy in International Development (RAPID) is a research center committed to fulfilling this objective.

Explore Developing Countries

Conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) are seen as particularly effective in low- and middle-income countries, but relatively little is known about the interface between the supply of services and program administration and specific human development outcomes. RAND Europe assessed the effectiveness of CCTs through a two-year grant from UK Economic Social Research Council and Department for International Development.

Next to ethnic and religious predilections, security is by far the biggest issue for Nigerians in Saturday's election. For more than 50 years, since Nigeria's independence from British rule, its military has played an important role in peacekeeping across the continent. Paradoxically, the country has struggled with an insurgency within its own borders.

Depression is the leading cause of disability throughout the world and is especially prevalent among low-income African countries, where 75 percent of the people who suffer from mental illness do not have easy access to the mental health care they need.

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) helps to bridge the gap between scientific and technological potential and the needs of low income populations in low and middle income countries. RAND Europe is evaluating its capacity-building activities - including training, advocacy and broader community engagement activities - in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.

U.S. President Barack Obama's visit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India has generated generally positive reactions from analysts. These judgments will be reinforced if the leaders' current chemistry changes Indo-U.S. policy for the better.

Diaspora communities generally fare better in the U.S. and Europe than those who remained in their countries of origin, but not as well as U.S. and European nationals. Policymakers and others seeking to engage with diaspora groups may benefit from eight recommendations developed through a synthesis of quantitative mapping and analysis of engagement strategies and diaspora survey results.

In South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, investments made over the past 20 years have created a dump with a difference. Rather than being a blight on the neighborhood of Mariannhill, the state-of-the-art Mariannhill Landfill Conservancy is an asset.

Horizon 2020, the EU's biggest research funding programme, allows the EU to play a central role in solving some of the world's grand societal challenges. This brief informs EU policy decisionmaking on research and innovation funding.

RAND and its partners are analyzing long-term longitudinal data from Madagascar and Senegal to examine the roles of education, skills, and family background for young men and women who are transitioning into the workforce.

Youth unemployment is a pervasive and persistent worldwide scourge: 75 million youth are unemployed now and that rate is expected to rise. RAND joined the World Bank, Accenture, International Youth Foundation, and others to form Solutions for Youth Employment, a unique coalition that acts to increase youth opportunities for productive employment.

The Syrian conflict has been the main contributor to the largest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide—and the problem can be expected to get worse as the fighting continues. Small steps are being taken to meet the needs of women refugees but more needs to be done.

The RAND Corporation has joined the World Bank and other corporate and civil society leaders to establish Solutions for Youth Employment, a global coalition that acts to address the pervasive challenges of youth employment.

The RAND Corporation has joined the World Bank and other corporate and civil society leaders to establish Solutions for Youth Employment, a global coalition that acts to address the pervasive challenges of youth employment.

While funding is the key problem, clinical researchers seeking to combat infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa cite the lack of policymaker understanding of the importance of their work as a major barrier, above lack of human resources and lack of infrastructure.

Public housing projects have been controversial for decades in countries around the world. But an informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa, could serve as a guide for other countries experimenting with community-driven development, an alternative approach to public housing.

Developing clinical research in sub-Saharan Africa requires a more holistic approach that considers not only individuals and institutions concerned with clinical research but also the wider health and research systems in these countries.

This report reviews the current state of health research, the funding landscape and research capacity in the field of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, neglected infectious diseases (NIDs), and health systems in sub-Saharan Africa.

This study aims to create a map of youth idleness and unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa region. The results of this study will represent the most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of youth idleness in the region.

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Researcher Spotlight

Policy Analyst

Shelly Culbertson is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. Her research focus includes international development, education, innovation policy, and the Middle East. She is currently conducting research about urban services and education for Syrian refugees in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon. She…

Director, Pittsburgh Office

A quantitative policy analyst at RAND since 1988, Susan S. Everingham has been involved in a diverse array of policy studies, concentrating on the mathematical modeling of complex systems as well as cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses of policy alternatives. She coauthored RAND's 1994…

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